Just wanted to drop a quick line and let you know that we finished a high-level review of the system from the leads and directors in preparation for the system rolling out to the closed beta. The reaction was very positive, and there were a number of good suggestions for streamlining the presentation which we'll be looking at this week, but no huge changes were requested.
All in all, this is great news in terms of things staying on schedule for the duty officer system. Just a little longer, and you'll all be able to get your hands on it and figure out brand new ways to break it and make me stay late at night figuring out how to fix things. :cool:
Fantastic news, really looking forward to testing this, looks like I'll have STO minimised at work now :-P
Any chance of fleet leaders and officers getting access to fleet-related DOff missions to make them feel more fleety?
There is a great deal of interest here in making a major push for fleets in general and wrapping the duty officer system integrally into that. It is certainly my hope that we will be able to see this happen after we finish what is currently on our plate.
For that particular assignment, note the increased chance of Failure or Disaster if the crewmember undergoing therapy has the Aggressive, Stubborn or Unruly traits. :cool:
Also, as promised, a built-in way for you to vent any frustration with the system at me. :eek: Only fair.
So...the reward for a Klingon cooking a tribble...is a tribble?
Could the requirement be a tribble and the reward be some kind of snack food with charges that acts like a tribble? Perhaps "Tribble Chips" or "Breaded Tribble Bites" and each one gives you an hour long buff even after defeat but you only get 5 or 10 uses from the platter before it's consumed (pun intended)?
Could the Marauder Xp button be changed to maybe a hand holding a klingon dagger or simply a fist instead of a pair of hands shaking?
There are definitely a lot of minor wording and thematic things I can see that need tweaking just with what you've shown us thus far. I can't wait to burn through these and really make a change list
So...you want me to send that coffee sooner or later?
For that particular assignment, note the increased chance of Failure or Disaster if the crewmember undergoing therapy has the Aggressive, Stubborn or Unruly traits. :cool:
I saw I can just imagine an angry Andorian trashing the counseling room and storming out would disaster result in the counselor needing medical assistance, or the unruly crewman being 'fired', or both?
So...the reward for a Klingon cooking a tribble...is a tribble?
Could the requirement be a tribble and the reward be some kind of snack food with charges that acts like a tribble? Perhaps "Tribble Chips" or "Breaded Tribble Bites" and each one gives you an hour long buff even after defeat but you only get 5 or 10 uses from the platter before it's consumed (pun intended)?
Could the Marauder Xp button be changed to maybe a hand holding a klingon dagger or simply a fist instead of a pair of hands shaking?
The tribble icon for the reward is placeholder. The reward is actually an edible tribble food that acts both as a food and gives you a fairly long-lasting tribble-like buff.
The tribble icon for the reward is placeholder. The reward is actually an edible tribble food that acts both as a food and gives you a fairly long-lasting tribble-like buff.
The tribble icon for the reward is placeholder. The reward is actually an edible tribble food that acts both as a food and gives you a fairly long-lasting tribble-like buff.
I believe the CXP icon is also placeholder.
Wow, talk about parallel evolution of ideas...it's a shame you guys aren't hiring content people, seems like I'd fit in quite well with your team...*points to resume submitted not long ago*
This is more of a random related question: In your dream future Heretic what 3 things would you like to see the DOFF system reward? Could be anything, targs, a novelty power to create a holo-slave girl to dance for our amusement, etc.
I CANT F-ING WAIT TO PLAY WITH THIS!! Especially with Jes... I want to see what nifty KDF Doff missions there are.
Heretic, I you... I have another question/request, that I think you might be able to answer: Could we PLEASE have some Orion-themed Doff missions? Raid a planetary base, Barhopping with your first officer... xD Steal/liberate slave girls. Orion-themed cooking.... I can supply more ideas if necessary.
Looks pretty good and I have a question to the traits "Chance to double the number of Boarding Party shuttles" and so similar. How big is this chance we are talking about? Because there is quiet a difference between 3 and 6 shuttles or 1 and 3 Phaser turrets on ground. Also is there some kind of diminishing return or a max cap? So no matter how many of such Doffs you have the chance will never be higher than e.g. 10%?
Because a lot of the Doffs have such traits(?) I have to ask how hard will it be to find them? I know this depends on many variables but can you give us a time frame what a "normal" casual player can expect? 1 every week? 2 every month?
http://imageshack.us/f/853/doff08311106.jpg/
In this picture on the bottom you have 10 assignment points left so I guess this shows how many you can start? Even more interesting for me is there a way to increase the number of assignments which can run at the same time? For example if you have a special Doff you get 2 more slots for assignments.
http://imageshack.us/f/15/doff08311103.jpg/
"Obtain the necessary equipment, logistics and information necessary to install one of the..." Ok English is not my first language but sounds as if there is one "necessary" too much.
Also the second H'ahk has a red lock beside his traits symbols. What does it mean? And why don't have both a lock?
If the outcome of the Baked Tribble assignment is a disaster will there be a follow up mission which let's kill the chief?
And one more question... what is a an aftershock Gravity Well? Some kind of PSW?
This is more of a random related question: In your dream future Heretic what 3 things would you like to see the DOFF system reward? Could be anything, targs, a novelty power to create a holo-slave girl to dance for our amusement, etc.
Honestly? Costumes. And ships. And an Orion Yacht ship interior. But they keep telling me that art is expensive or something like that. Ri-ight.
I have another question/request, that I think you might be able to answer: Could we PLEASE have some Orion-themed Doff missions? Raid a planetary base, Barhopping with your first officer... xD Steal/liberate slave girls. Orion-themed cooking.... I can supply more ideas if necessary.
We've tried to include assignments themed to as many areas as possible, including Orions. I cannot promise that every species will start with assignments, but I am expanding the breadth and depth of available assignments as fast as I can.
I have a question to the traits "Chance to double the number of Boarding Party shuttles" and so similar. How big is this chance we are talking about? Also is there some kind of diminishing return or a max cap? So no matter how many of such Doffs you have the chance will never be higher than e.g. 10%?
I don't recall the chance off the top of my head, and even if I did, I fully expect things like frequency and maximum number of duty officers of various types capable of being slotted at once to change radically as soon as players start using them and figuring out how best to squeeze every possible advantage out of the system.
But, yes, there is a maximum number of each specialization that can be slotted at any one time; generally this is 1 or 3.
Because a lot of the Doffs have such traits(?) I have to ask how hard will it be to find them? I know this depends on many variables but can you give us a time frame what a "normal" casual player can expect? 1 every week? 2 every month?
I do not expect it to be hard at all for players to get most duty officer specializations at white quality. Any reasonably dedicated player should be able to eventually outfit most of their active roster, at least, with green quality duty officers in the course of a few week of play, I would guess.
The exact speed will depend on a lot of things, from how aggressively you use the duty officer system, to how many of your resources you wish to devote to getting more duty officers off the Exchange, and so on.
Getting a full active roster of blue or purple duty officers - the design intent is for that to take some really serious dedication...
In this picture on the bottom you have 10 assignment points left so I guess this shows how many you can start? Even more interesting for me is there a way to increase the number of assignments which can run at the same time? For example if you have a special Doff you get 2 more slots for assignments.
The current maximum number of assignments you may have running at any one time is 10. This may change after we see how things work in testing.
We are currently not planning any way for you to change the number of maximum assignments you have have running at any one time; the current plan is for you to increase the number of active slots you have by rank, and the number of reserve space you have by C-Store purchase, exactly as you can currently increase your regular inventory space.
Also the second H'ahk has a red lock beside his traits symbols. What does it mean? And why don't have both a lock?
If the outcome of the Baked Tribble assignment is a disaster will there be a follow up mission which let's kill the chief?
And one more question... what is a an aftershock Gravity Well? Some kind of PSW?
Yes, the Medical Supply number is an error. The number required was changed, but the text in the description wasn't updated.
The lock icon is a placeholder icon denoting that that duty officer is bound to your character. Some duty officers such as those from commendation tier rewards come bound. Any duty officer slotted into your active roster will also become bound. Duty officers sent on assignments, however, are not bound by the action of being sent on an assignment.
The disaster result for the baked tribble assignment is...well, let's just say it's a Klingon captain's worst nightmare, and leave it at that.
The Gravimetric Specialist active roster power gives a chance on use of Gravity Well to spawn one (or more) additional gravity wells in the vicinity of the original gravity well towards the end of the initial gravity well's duration. It looks awesome. It may also make super low-end video cards cry. (Oh, did I mention it looks awesome...?)
Is there a way to identify higher category assignments besides guessing?
If not, identifying diplomacy assignments might be a slight problem.
Assignment rarity is denoted by color; in the user interface you can see several green and blue assignments. We have talked about possibly making this more obvious, however.
If you mean commendation category of assignment, that is listed in the assignment list. If you mean commendation level, then that doesn't matter - assignments are all leveless (although there are some assignments that do not appear until you hit certain ranks.)
Now, if you mean assignments that open up due to higher commendation tiers so you know that the assignment you are looking at is due to your hitting a higher tier...that, in fact, is something we're working on finding a better way to communicate than is currently in the user interface.
That'll be my goal and I hope it does take a long time, but would it be possible to do this without ever having to use real money?
Duty officers of all qualities - up to and including purple - are currently planned to be accessible both via chance in certain assignments as well as rewards for achieving commendation tiers.
Random packs will also be available via the C-Store. The current plan is for some rare duty officers to be available only in game and some to be available only through random C-Store packs.
Note, however, that with the plan of allowing players to exchange dilithium (the working name for the new Emblem-like currency) for C-Store points, even the C-Store packs will be available to players through this exchange mechanism, if so desired.
[...]
The Gravimetric Specialist active roster power gives a chance on use of Gravity Well to spawn one (or more) additional gravity wells in the vicinity of the original gravity well towards the end of the initial gravity well's duration. It looks awesome. It may also make super low-end video cards cry. (Oh, did I mention it looks awesome...?). [...]
So make one GW and get 2 for free.... I like that.
We currently know skills like GW, Boarding Part, Tractor/Tachyon Beam and probably some I can't remember all can be improved via Doffs. So without asking for any detail information on the improvements themselves... can we improve all our BO/captain skills with Doff traits?
Could we PLEASE have some Orion-themed Doff missions? Raid a planetary base, Barhopping with your first officer... xD Steal/liberate slave girls.
Oh, but the "slave" girls don't get stolen ... they are stealing you.
Stuff like that could well be an assignment, though! I'm really curious to see how much Heretic will be able to "tweak" the system towards the different species. No doubt this is quite a challenge.
One question: Earlier it was stated that a ship would have to be in a given world's respective sector if an assignment required it, with the given example being the recruitment of an Andorian officer from Andoria. Does this mean we will finally get to know where the new Orion capital, Ter'jas Mor, is located? And how will the sort-of-vagrant Nausicaans be handled? Or will the KDF be "limited" to getting everything and anything from Qo'noS?
[...]
Now, if you mean assignments that open up due to higher commendation tiers so you know that the assignment you are looking at is due to your hitting a higher tier...that, in fact, is something we're working on finding a better way to communicate than is currently in the user interface.
^ This ^
So there already is a way to tell the different tier assignments apart?
Comments
Fantastic news, really looking forward to testing this, looks like I'll have STO minimised at work now :-P
Z
There is a great deal of interest here in making a major push for fleets in general and wrapping the duty officer system integrally into that. It is certainly my hope that we will be able to see this happen after we finish what is currently on our plate.
Member1: Go patrol system X in the klingon neutral zone
Member2: Go explore nebula Z
Member3: Go engage borg in sector Y
Said members accomplishing these tasks awards all fleet members exp or badges daily.
Also, as promised, a built-in way for you to vent any frustration with the system at me. :eek: Only fair.
THANKS! much better on the eyes
That was definatly worth the wait, I'll be glad to start testing it out when its available for testing I especially like the baked tribble!
Awesome, thankyou! My favourite: http://img853.imageshack.us/img853/8936/doff08311106.jpg
For that particular assignment, note the increased chance of Failure or Disaster if the crewmember undergoing therapy has the Aggressive, Stubborn or Unruly traits. :cool:
So...the reward for a Klingon cooking a tribble...is a tribble?
Could the requirement be a tribble and the reward be some kind of snack food with charges that acts like a tribble? Perhaps "Tribble Chips" or "Breaded Tribble Bites" and each one gives you an hour long buff even after defeat but you only get 5 or 10 uses from the platter before it's consumed (pun intended)?
Could the Marauder Xp button be changed to maybe a hand holding a klingon dagger or simply a fist instead of a pair of hands shaking?
There are definitely a lot of minor wording and thematic things I can see that need tweaking just with what you've shown us thus far. I can't wait to burn through these and really make a change list
So...you want me to send that coffee sooner or later?
I saw
The tribble icon for the reward is placeholder. The reward is actually an edible tribble food that acts both as a food and gives you a fairly long-lasting tribble-like buff.
I believe the CXP icon is also placeholder.
oh and +1 on the fist icon, by the way
The Baked Tribble had me chuckle. :P
That...is...awesome... Tribble crisps ftw.
Z
Wow, talk about parallel evolution of ideas...it's a shame you guys aren't hiring content people, seems like I'd fit in quite well with your team...*points to resume submitted not long ago*
This is more of a random related question: In your dream future Heretic what 3 things would you like to see the DOFF system reward? Could be anything, targs, a novelty power to create a holo-slave girl to dance for our amusement, etc.
This.
I CANT F-ING WAIT TO PLAY WITH THIS!! Especially with Jes... I want to see what nifty KDF Doff missions there are.
Heretic, I
Pleeeeeeeeeease? :wub:
/fangirl
Because a lot of the Doffs have such traits(?) I have to ask how hard will it be to find them? I know this depends on many variables but can you give us a time frame what a "normal" casual player can expect? 1 every week? 2 every month?
http://imageshack.us/f/853/doff08311106.jpg/
In this picture on the bottom you have 10 assignment points left so I guess this shows how many you can start? Even more interesting for me is there a way to increase the number of assignments which can run at the same time? For example if you have a special Doff you get 2 more slots for assignments.
http://imageshack.us/f/691/doff08311105.jpg/
There is an error(?) in this picture. The text says you need 30 Medical supplies but at the bottom you need 40.
http://imageshack.us/f/15/doff08311103.jpg/
"Obtain the necessary equipment, logistics and information necessary to install one of the..." Ok English is not my first language but sounds as if there is one "necessary" too much.
Also the second H'ahk has a red lock beside his traits symbols. What does it mean? And why don't have both a lock?
If the outcome of the Baked Tribble assignment is a disaster will there be a follow up mission which let's kill the chief?
And one more question... what is a an aftershock Gravity Well? Some kind of PSW?
Ahh, can't wait!
If not, identifying diplomacy assignments might be a slight problem.
Honestly? Costumes. And ships. And an Orion Yacht ship interior. But they keep telling me that art is expensive or something like that. Ri-ight.
We've tried to include assignments themed to as many areas as possible, including Orions. I cannot promise that every species will start with assignments, but I am expanding the breadth and depth of available assignments as fast as I can.
I don't recall the chance off the top of my head, and even if I did, I fully expect things like frequency and maximum number of duty officers of various types capable of being slotted at once to change radically as soon as players start using them and figuring out how best to squeeze every possible advantage out of the system.
But, yes, there is a maximum number of each specialization that can be slotted at any one time; generally this is 1 or 3.
I do not expect it to be hard at all for players to get most duty officer specializations at white quality. Any reasonably dedicated player should be able to eventually outfit most of their active roster, at least, with green quality duty officers in the course of a few week of play, I would guess.
The exact speed will depend on a lot of things, from how aggressively you use the duty officer system, to how many of your resources you wish to devote to getting more duty officers off the Exchange, and so on.
Getting a full active roster of blue or purple duty officers - the design intent is for that to take some really serious dedication...
The current maximum number of assignments you may have running at any one time is 10. This may change after we see how things work in testing.
We are currently not planning any way for you to change the number of maximum assignments you have have running at any one time; the current plan is for you to increase the number of active slots you have by rank, and the number of reserve space you have by C-Store purchase, exactly as you can currently increase your regular inventory space.
Yes, the Medical Supply number is an error. The number required was changed, but the text in the description wasn't updated.
The lock icon is a placeholder icon denoting that that duty officer is bound to your character. Some duty officers such as those from commendation tier rewards come bound. Any duty officer slotted into your active roster will also become bound. Duty officers sent on assignments, however, are not bound by the action of being sent on an assignment.
The disaster result for the baked tribble assignment is...well, let's just say it's a Klingon captain's worst nightmare, and leave it at that.
The Gravimetric Specialist active roster power gives a chance on use of Gravity Well to spawn one (or more) additional gravity wells in the vicinity of the original gravity well towards the end of the initial gravity well's duration. It looks awesome. It may also make super low-end video cards cry. (Oh, did I mention it looks awesome...?)
Assignment rarity is denoted by color; in the user interface you can see several green and blue assignments. We have talked about possibly making this more obvious, however.
If you mean commendation category of assignment, that is listed in the assignment list. If you mean commendation level, then that doesn't matter - assignments are all leveless (although there are some assignments that do not appear until you hit certain ranks.)
Now, if you mean assignments that open up due to higher commendation tiers so you know that the assignment you are looking at is due to your hitting a higher tier...that, in fact, is something we're working on finding a better way to communicate than is currently in the user interface.
That'll be my goal and I hope it does take a long time, but would it be possible to do this without ever having to use real money?
I'm still unemployed and short of cash most of the time, but would be happy to invest in CP if I had some extra cash.
Duty officers of all qualities - up to and including purple - are currently planned to be accessible both via chance in certain assignments as well as rewards for achieving commendation tiers.
Random packs will also be available via the C-Store. The current plan is for some rare duty officers to be available only in game and some to be available only through random C-Store packs.
Note, however, that with the plan of allowing players to exchange dilithium (the working name for the new Emblem-like currency) for C-Store points, even the C-Store packs will be available to players through this exchange mechanism, if so desired.
Well... It seems to me like the DOFF system is generating a lot of content cheaply.
If it goes well, the argument could be made it's enough under budget to warrant some love.
If it goes poorly, the argument can be made the lack of shiny things played a role.
So make one GW and get 2 for free.... I like that.
We currently know skills like GW, Boarding Part, Tractor/Tachyon Beam and probably some I can't remember all can be improved via Doffs. So without asking for any detail information on the improvements themselves... can we improve all our BO/captain skills with Doff traits?
Stuff like that could well be an assignment, though! I'm really curious to see how much Heretic will be able to "tweak" the system towards the different species. No doubt this is quite a challenge.
One question: Earlier it was stated that a ship would have to be in a given world's respective sector if an assignment required it, with the given example being the recruitment of an Andorian officer from Andoria. Does this mean we will finally get to know where the new Orion capital, Ter'jas Mor, is located? And how will the sort-of-vagrant Nausicaans be handled? Or will the KDF be "limited" to getting everything and anything from Qo'noS?
^ This ^
So there already is a way to tell the different tier assignments apart?